President Trump tried to rebrand the partial government shutdown as a “strike” in a White House meeting with lawmakers Friday.
The president told top Democrats and Republicans that he did not want to call the shutdown a “shutdown.” Instead, he wanted to refer to it as a “strike,” the Daily Beast reported.
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About 800,000 employees have been furloughed or are working without being paid.
The government has been shut down since Dec. 22, when Congress and the president failed to agree on spending over Trump’s proposed border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump has threatened to not sign any spending bill that does not include his demand for more than $5 billion for the border barrier.
In Friday’s meeting with congressional leaders, Trump threatened that he is willing to keep the government closed for “years” if he doesn’t get his demand, according to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Trump confirmed those comments during a news conference in the Rose Garden after the meeting.
Trump also swore, using the word “fuck,” several times throughout the meeting, according to the Daily Beast report. Trump apologized to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for the cursing, the Washington Post reported.
